Martin Barrow

I am no longer posting on X/Twitter. You can find me on Blue Sky, LinkedIn and Substack. I hope you can join me.

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

Catch up with the news about children’s services you missed over Christmas and the new year with the latest Week in Care, your free weekly roundup. Sign up for a free weekly email via [email protected]

[Aditya Chakrabortty @chakrabortty]

https://t.co/0PlLTh76d0

Private firms are taking 'scandalous' profits from NHS healthcare, enough to pay for 20,000 nurses every year.

[Resolution Foundation @resfoundation]

🚨 New

Britain’s ‘unsung’ army – a million people in poorer working-age households now have full-time unpaid caring responsibilities .

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

Hi.. as from now I am no longer posting on X/Twitter. You can find me on Blue Sky, LinkedIn and Substack. I hope you can join me.

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

Foster carers could be exempt from paying council tax in the future, if North Devon Council gets its way. https://t.co/gT8JPMbCMq

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

Trump using UK bases to build US military in Europe while threatening a European ally is where we are at.

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

Karen Wortley was a foster carer for nearly 20 years until she was diagnosed with cancer in July 2024. She sadly died on December 19, 2025, at the age of 59. https://t.co/rNU5IUpuJe

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

Child sexual abuse victims get £50m support boost https://t.co/BvwLmmeTPn

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

A 17-year-old who grew up in foster care has been named Thames Valley Police's cadet of 2025. https://t.co/1zoKey5tMt

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

Venezuela was never great.

[CapX @CapX]

These two elements mean that Venezuela’s problem – now that President Trump has deposed Chávez’s dictatorial successor Nicolás Maduro – is not merely one of resources.

As @FraserNelson has argued, oil will not save Venezuela.

So what can save it?

We should learn from historical transitions from socialism to capitalism.

Which countries were more successful?

Those that implemented fast and comprehensive reforms, known as shock therapy. Those that failed pursued partial, gradualist reforms.

The reason shock therapy worked and gradualism failed is political economy: if reforms are not fast and comprehensive enough, interest groups form and resist further change.

That is what would save Venezuela: reform on three fronts – from soft to hard budget constraints; from dictatorship to democracy; from collectivism to individualism.

✍️@ManiBasharzad

https://t.co/U7QhG0rqoZ

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

Obituary: Dame Gillian Wagner, children’s historian who also oversaw the transformation of residential care https://t.co/ZVOp5pw0jx

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

@AndyNelson1977 Check the rules. You won’t be able to register a home run for profit by a limited company.

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

Private providers continue to open children’s homes in Wales, even though profits from children’s social care wills soon be illegal. What’s the deal? https://t.co/bOxTHd3vTP

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

So dispiriting. Who knew that Venezuela would be a defining moment of Starmer’s premiership?

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

How the Home Office denied ​a British-born ​m​an his citizenship for 15 years https://t.co/Z9d2J3KSTB

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

The Guardian view on care leavers: responsibility for looked-after children does not end at 18 https://t.co/Q0buTlpzlS

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

New column:
Six events that will define children’s services in 2026.
Buckle up…it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

https://t.co/jxEvwDrDkd

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

Violent crimes against parents by children up 60% since 2015, shows London data https://t.co/urXhzhWWH1

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

Children from struggling families to be offered jabs at home https://t.co/vM14IYQ2JJ

[Martin Barrow @MartinBarrow]

Hundreds of Blackpool families, including 250 children, to be evicted in ‘mass dispersion’ of vulnerable people https://t.co/YnhiYpQBJb